A Day with Robert

Driving around this beautiful part of the country is delightful.  The verges of the roads are covered with wild flowers.  There's lots of what looks like Queen Anne's lace; around here it is called Cow Parsley.  The Rhododendrons are in full bloom and some are hedges along the road. The hedges along the roadside are quite unique to Devon and they make driving very interesting. You can't see anything except the road and can spend time backing up to let an oncoming car through.  The fencing in Devon is done by low growing hedges.  The whole scene is stunning.

A typical road around Devon

My cousin Robert took us to Plymouth where the Plym and Tamar rivers run into the harbour. This is where the Mayflower left England in 1620 to take the Pilgrims to the safety of America.  

 The harbour had many vessels of all shapes and sizes 

 The lighthouse was dismantled and rebuilt on this site.

The swimming pool looked very inviting but it wasn't warm enough for us to take a dip.  Didn't stop some of the holiday makers.  Just out into the ocean from the pool  there used to be a diving board but the authorities took it away because  they deemed it too dangerous.  But the local lads are quite resourceful and now jump off the cliffs at high tide.  

Hence the above sign which makes no difference at all.  We saw several lads jumping off. 

In front of the harbour sits the citadel, built during the Napoleonic era.  The British hoped this huge stone structure would keep Napoleon out of England.  It must have worked because he never came.

The citadel sits on 'The Hoe'

The walls are built out of granite rock, the hardest stone they could find to built the fortress.

We crossed over the River Tamar and entered Cornwell.  Robert told us the further west you go the more saints you meet.  It's even said that Jesus visited Cornwell!

Our next stop was Cotehele, a lovely old grand house with a beautiful garden.  The drive into this part of Cornwell is like driving through a tunnel, with the woodlands so thick and the trees overhanging the roads.

A view of the railway bridge from the garden 

Allan and Robert deep in discussion -will the British vote to leave or stay...

The pond with lilies beginning to flower 

On our way back to Kingsbridge we drove through the Dartmoor National Park. Sheep roam freely across these moors.  Each farmer places a coloured mark on the sheep's back and at the appropriate time they  are all rounded up and the farmers sort out whose sheep are  whose.  Dartmoor ponies, a smaller horse than the brumby that wanders the high country in Australia,  graze on this open country too.  

And what surprised  us the most was the 'Mr Whippy' van called 'Willy's' sitting out in the middle of the Dartmoor.  His ice cream was lovely